Pretty Little Flowers
by Tenshi no Hana-chan
Summary: Randomness. Oneshot SasuSaku. Sakura has grown a wee bit popular in our favorite village. What's this? Pretty little flowers litter her doorstep on White Day? And... nothing from our dear Sasuke? Or so does it seem...


**AN:** I wrote this for White Day. I dunno, I was thinking of flowers and cake and got inspired.

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**Pretty Little Flowers

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**Disclaimer**: Yes, I own Naruto and I'm not an anime addict.

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It was another of those commercialized little holidays that businesses used to advertise their merchandise. This time, it was White Day, a day invented by some chocolate business so that boys could reciprocate the candies and whatnot their girls (or fangirls) had given them during Valentines.

And then some.

Sakura knew for a fact she didn't give every boy in Konoha a single piece of gum, let alone a box of chocolates or a bunch of flowers. So why, on that fine windy day of March, did she find herself staring dumbfounded at the pileup of cards, stuffed animals, candies, and flowers left at her apartment doorstep?

Let's hit pause, rewind, and play, please.

It had been another uneventful day of practice before she arrived at this somewhat distressing scene. She had been the first on that red bridge where Team Kakashi usually met before doing anything. Now this was odd in itself, since she was sure Sasuke would be there first, like always.

A little more in rewind, and Sakura remembered seeing Ino in their flower shop, all excited, since she had gotten a few early presents for White Day, even if the only boys she had given presents to last Valentines was Sasuke and (strangely) Shikamaru. Then she passed by Tenten's apartment, where she saw said girl staring at her own pileup of presents. "Not from Neji," Sakura saw her mouthing over and over as she poked through the disgustingly pink display. And as the medic passed by the Ichiraku, she saw Hinata staring at it, two "free ramen" tickets in her pale hand.

She laughed a little to herself, a little disappointed that she hadn't gotten anything for White Day yet, like all her friends. (Of course, she would find this disappointment uncalled for later on.) She went on to the bridge, proceeding to wonder about the not-so-strange goings-on, having nothing else to do till the team arrived.

A few more minutes, and Sasuke came walking into her line of sight, looking sterner than usual. She chirped her usual "good morning", he said "Hn" in reply, and they stood in silence, like always.

"Well," she said in a desperate attempt to make conversation, "Happy White Day…?"

"Whatever."

Ah, gone were the days when she used to jump on him and annoy him silly with invitations to date. Sakura was still secretly embarrassed at the fact he might still remember when she used to glomp him on sight, but now, she could act more like herself around him.

Sasuke still wasn't as close to her as she would have liked, even after he came back from his little jaunt in Sound (ah, how little it seemed, with all the blood and tears it involved), though she sometimes felt she was making progress. Sometimes, she caught him staring at her (had he finally noticed she was stronger?) or he did the most mundane things for her (oh, does he still think she was weak then?), but she didn't gush all over it as she would've when she was younger.

She couldn't believe there was a time where she actually would blush just accidentally catching his eye.

But even with her lack of fangirl-ing, she couldn't stop herself from giving him a box of chocolates last Valentines. She had made them, and left them on his doorstep, beside all the other bigger (and probably better) boxes of chocolates his fangirls had made for him.

She didn't want to chase after him anymore, knowing he just was a stoic, emotionless bastard of an iceberg, but that didn't stop her from watching him from afar. There was still a bit of fangirl (or so it seemed) left in her.

She didn't hope on receiving anything from him during White Day either. _Yeah, right_, she told herself a little bitterly. _Like he'd even notice the date, let alone give anything to me._

She glanced at him, and they locked eyes for a microsecond. Then he turned away quickly. Her head cocked to the side.

"What's up?"

"Nothing," he said a little too quickly. She raised her eyebrows, but didn't reply.

_Well, he's certainly acting a little weird,_ she mused. _Oh, well, it has nothing to do with me._

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, and she forgot about Sasuke's weird behavior with all the rigorous training Kakashi had given them for the upcoming Jounin Qualifications. At around sunset, she had trudged tiredly up her doorstep, thus finding the tower of gifts on her doorstep.

Which brought her back to her current predicament: what was she going to do with all this?

She decided her best mode of action was to give the chocolates to charity (she had a sweet tooth, after all, but she was a medic nin and she knew it wasn't too wise to get diabetes), the bears to the children's ward at the hospital (her bed was already drowning with stuffed toys anyway), and the flowers to the Shinobi Monument at the training grounds (after she removed all the cards addressed to her, of course).

It was cruel irony that she got a present from every other single boy in Konoha and none from the one boy she loved with her entire being (even if he _did_ get on her nerves sometimes).

She sat on her doorstep and started on the pile, wondering how in the world she got this much. She deduced it was because she probably had grown a little prettier the past year, and that she was more of an accomplished nin than before. _I suppose being the Godaime's apprentice doesn't hurt my reputation either._

She sorted the gifts into piles. _Ah, carnations from Lee-san_, she mused, her eyes twinkling. _He knows me well enough to know what one of my favorite flowers is._ This she set aside to put in a vase inside the house.

By the by, she spotted an envelope that bore the address of "the great future Hokage", as it was stamped on the envelope. The emerald eyed girl laughed when she found one ticket to free ramen inside, and a note that said, "Hey Sakura-chan, sorry I gave you only one, but I gave two to Hinata-chan. You know, 'coz she's more important in a love-love kind of sense. But that doesn't mean I don't like you though!" She kept that one as well.

The rest, however, had no originality. They were all either roses, bears, or chocolate (either milky or dark), and in a matter of minutes, she was yawning with boredom. There was no originality at all. _Hey, if they wanted to impress me, they could've been more creative. They should've known to get me, they should know how to surprise me. _She resisted the urge to imitate Tenten and go, "Not from Sasuke-kun, not from Sasuke-kun."

A few hours (and dozens of cards) later, she hauled everything off to their respective places, not noticing a little blue box of something on the ground.

Another hour more and she was done with her rounds, which gleaned her a few notes about her friends. She had seen Shikamaru and Ino walk off somewhere, and Naruto and Hinata were still in the Ichiraku. She had not seen Neji and Tenten, though, but Sakura thought she saw two shadows dancing in the light of Tenten's room.

_Some White Day,_ she had mused.

She walked home in a distracted manner, walking mechanically up the empty streets. Each couple she glimpsed gave her a stroke of depression and jealousy, even a little nausea. Here she was, sixteen (going on seventeen) without a date on one of the most important days for couples everywhere (even if it _was_ invented by some chocolate business).

_Maybe I'll just go to some bar and try my luck there,_ Sakura thought.

As she tried to recall where she had left her fake ID, her foot almost stepped on a small something on the ground as she walked up her front door. She _did_ notice in time, however, and with a look of mingled surprise and annoyance (she'd have to go back and give this to its respective future owner), she picked it up and examined it.

There was no note, or any sign of personal whatever on it. Perplexed (wouldn't a guy want recognition from the girl he had just given something to?) she tugged the dark blue ribbon wrapped around it free and opened the box.

Inside, strangely, was a small collection of candy flowers, the ones put on cake, in pink, blue, and green. And on the underside of the lid, there was a hastily scribbled note, the writing of which was very familiar.

_Don't keep this out for long – it's going to melt. Sorry, didn't know what else to give you. Thanks for the chocolates._

She read this again and again, then grinned widely. Afterwards, she glided into her apartment, nibbling on a candy flower and putting two and two together.

_Makes me wonder what I'll give him next year._

She shrugged and went up to her room to freshen up. She had decided (by a unanimous decision by her, Inner Sakura, her inner fangirl, and the i-don't-give-a-damn bitch in that little corner of her mind) to invade a certain manor that evening.

The army was moving to conquer a few hearts, or possibly, just slightly invade one slightly obsessed mind.

_Commercialized or not, I could love this.

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**AN:** Another randomly made, written-in-one-hour fic. I think this is the shortest I've made, not counting the Marshmallow Collection omake I love making oh so much.

Whatever.

Review?


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